So Far Away
by forerunner919
Summary: Fox may have saved the day for all in the Lylat System... but when he takes a closer look, all is not well for the one he truly loved.


It had seemed just like yesterday. The Anglars had been defeated, and any remnants of Andross and his cronies had finally been defeated. Venom was on its way to terraforming, and the toxic nature of the planet was finally eroding away. The evil had fallen. Falco was happy. Slippy was certainly happy. General Peppy, the patient soul, was happy. Even Rob, in his own way, sensed a virtual smirk across everyone in the entire room. Everyone should have been happy that day. Except one person, that is.

Fox wasn't happy.

He was heartbroken, really. He had achieved everything he had wanted to, defeated the enemy, saved the galaxy, raked in another huge award, and was well on their way to riding off into the sunset yet again… but this time was different. Somehow Fox knew that there was nothing left for him at the end of the road. What had been laid ahead of him were loneliness, darkness, and emptiness. He had felt the same way when his parents had died, when they had been taken suddenly without warning. The same feelings he felt those two awful days were felt with him right now, at this moment – emptiness, sadness, and a lack of drive or passion – Fox had nowhere to go.

Except this shouldn't have been this way. Star Fox saved the day, he thought, and they were heroes once again. But there he was, becoming more hollow and grief stricken than ever.

Fox thought about his friends that he worked with all these years. Falco was to marry Katt in a short while. Slippy had a fiancé and was about to be a father within a few months. General Peppy already had a family even before starting Star Fox and could retire with no regrets in his life. He had more than deserved it. Even Bill Grey, who Fox once described as "an endless bachelor," found the love of his life just the previous year. It seemed that if Star Fox were to end tomorrow, everyone could find their way back and settle down with a new life.

Except for Fox. Fox had left behind the one person who cared for him more than he could ever imagine. Fox left behind the one person who never stopped loving him, even with his occasional binging and erratic behaviour. Fox left her behind to protect her from harm. But in doing so, they had both been torn apart, physically and mentally, from each other. Fox had abandoned the one person he truly loved, the only one he could love in life.

"Krystal."

Before Fox could think any longer, Falco had appeared. He saw Fox slowly slip away into the break room onboard the Great Fox, and knew immediately that something was up in the face of victory for the team.

"Where are you going, bud?" yelled Falco.

Fox didn't reply back, ignoring Falco as he kept going into the break room. Falco followed close behind and got close to Fox's sombre face.

"What's up? You don't look so good," Falco said, in a rare show of emotion.

"Yeah," Fox sighed. "I just don't know what to do with myself now. I mean, we've been fighting these people for how long now? It just feels so sudden. I don't know where to go in my life."

"Cheer up," Falco quipped, "we'll be ok. We have each other, and as long as we're together, nobody can stop us. We're the best team there is."

"I know," replied Fox slowly. "I know that. But something's different this time. It just feels… like something isn't quite right about all this."

Falco shook his head in dismay. "You're not thinking about Krystal again, are you?"

"I left her off the active roster to protect her, to make her feel better, and instead she was completely broken and devastated. Nothing meant to her more than being a part of this team."

"It was a dangerous mission, Fox. We barely got out of there with our own lives!"

"That's not the point, Falco. We meant everything to her, after what happened to home, to her family, to her people…" Fox's voice was breaking as he kept seeing Krystal running off in his mind. "…we were the first people she met that really respected her, no matter what came between us. That's what mattered to her, Falco. And I tore that away from her."

Fox couldn't help but notice Slippy nearby overhearing the entire situation, and walked over. "Hey, Fox, what's going on over there?"

Annoyed, Fox got up from where he was and stormed off into the hallway. "Slip's going to find out eventually," Fox grumbled to himself. "No point gutting my hearts out to him. If Falco doesn't tell him, Peppy certainly will."

Fox went off into the hangar and started up the launching sequence of his Arwing. Rob noticed this and blipped over to try to communicate with him.

 _"RECORDS INDICATE NO IMMINENT FLIGHT PLANS, INDICATE YOUR DESTINATION."_

"Have you found traces of Krystal's signal anywhere?" barked Fox.

" _KRYSTAL'S SIGNAL TRACES TO SAURIA, BUT THE EXACT LOCATION IS UNKNOWN"_

"That's fine," said Fox quickly. "Set me a course to Sauria."

Once the coordinates were set, Fox quickly blasted off with haste, and before anyone could object to his sudden departure, Fox tried clicking off all the communications on his Arwing. He could still hear objections from his crew as he blasted off, but Fox kept fumbling through the controls as he hadn't had to switch them off before, until he finally got what he wanted, and heard the peaceful sound of silence as he found the switches to turn the radio off.

Fox breathed out in relief, closing his eyes. Then he breathed in and out some more, fast but calm, as he ascended towards Sauria. His mind was made up long ago.

Within a few hours Fox had arrived at the familiar confines of Sauria. He hadn't been there since the Aparoid invasion, when the planet was under constant attack. This time, he was able to see the planet in much more detail than before, given that he wasn't busy trying to save his own skin for a change. He reminded himself of when he was there to defeat the SharpClaw army and General Scales, and also when he met Krystal for the first time. Life was better then, he thought. Life was simply about saving the world and being a hero for everyone. Nothing else really happened then at the time. "If only things were that simple now," Fox sighed.

Fox didn't exactly know where Krystal was in Sauria, but he had a few ideas of where to look. "Maybe I'll actually be able to enjoy some of this 'peace' I created for this galaxy. It's not like anyone else knows who I am. I barely spoke to anyone there."

Fox landed just outside ThornTail Hollow, where he had first landed on his first visit to Sauria, but he was careful not to attract a crowd at his arrival. He didn't want to see any uninvited guests that had a grudge against him from the old wars.

He searched around the village for a few days. He was smart enough to bring his own food and water, and even knew how to fish from the river as well. Fox wandered around the planet, hovering around ThornTail Hollow, not really looking for anything in particular, but for a new way of life. He had grown tired of fighting and killing people. Fox only wanted to live in peace.

Fox hadn't seen this side of Sauria before. It reminded him of his childhood back on Papetoon, when his father would take him along on trips to the few lakes and rivers that were present in what was mainly a desert planet in the outskirts of the Lylat System. It reminded him of happier, simpler, times, when he didn't have to worry about Andross or General Scales or whatever or whoever it was that was out to kill every living being in the galaxy. He could simply focus on himself for a while.

It had been three days since he landed on Sauria when a familiar looking dinosaur approached Fox. The dinosaur seemed to know Fox from before, like seeing an old friend for the first time in a while. When the dinosaur approached him, Fox didn't really look at him for too long, perhaps since he had no plans to talk to anyone for the time being. Then the dinosaur spoke.

"Fox! She's in danger… you must save her…"

Fox looked puzzled, not because the dinosaur seemed to know his name, but that he spoke English. There was only one dinosaur on this planet he knew that could speak English like the rest of the Lylatians.

"Tricky? Is that you?"

"This is no time to catch up on old times, Fox. You need to help Krystal, immediately!"

Fox looked at Tricky straight in the eyes and glared at him for a couple of seconds. "Where is she?" Fox stated.

"Follow me," urged Tricky. "We don't have much time. Ever since Krystal got ill, we've been doing all we can to heal her."

"Fall ill?" Fox's stomach started to churn inside.

Fox was led to the palace of the EarthWalker tribe, sheltered from the sweltering and overbearing heat. As they approached the entrance, Tricky turned towards Fox, growing more and more concerned on his face. Fox solemnly followed Tricky inside without saying a word, only thinking to himself. "If only I didn't kick Krystal off the team, I wouldn't have gotten her into this mess, whatever it is."

Fox didn't know what to expect, though, when he did see Krystal in the shape that she was currently in at the moment. Curled up and shivering in the bed, Krystal was very pale and weary all over. She was asleep when Fox came in, but she clearly wasn't sleeping well. Shaking and trembling, Krystal was muttering a few words occasionally here and there, though they were too quiet and unintelligible to make out.

"Shit," Fox said quietly to Tricky, getting closer to Krystal. "I've seen people go through this before, but not since the Aparoid Invasion. What the hell has she been under?"

"Who knows," Tricky sighed. "I've tried to figure that out myself.

Fox kneeled down near Krystal, breathing in a familiar stench around her. "That smell... she's been eating some of the GrubTubs, hasn't she? When the Aparoids hit Sauria, everyone had little choice but to eat those stinking mushrooms just to survive." Fox put his hands in his face, shaking his head in shame. "What the fuck have I done?"

Before he could get close to getting an answer from anyone, Krystal had taken notice to the new visitors and awoke from her stupor.

Fox had seen many sick people before, but none quite like Krystal did right at that moment. Her eyes were bloodshot red and her face appeared more pale than it was a minute ago. Her infectious smile he learned to know from Krystal had all but evaporated at this point, and she was still shivering away. It broke Fox's heart seeing Krystal at this state. They had both been together through many injuries and setbacks, but seeing her at this condition was just about the worst thing he ever saw from anyone.

"This should have never happened," Fox kept saying to himself. "How did I let this happen?"

Fox was hoping to get some kind of response from Krystal's telepathy, but Fox wasn't getting any kind of response. "The effects of the GrubTubs have screwed up her mind," groaned Fox. "I can't get anything from her."

Fox wrapped his arms around Krystal and got her to sit up for a bit, and he held her in his arms. It was the least he could do at this point. "Get out of here," he scowled at Tricky. "This is my mess to clean up, and I don't want people surrounding her when she comes to."

The two were left alone to console with each other and to try to make amends. The medics nearby were both shaking their heads as they left along with Tricky. "We could use a break, I suppose," said one of the dinosaur medics. "We've been watching Krystal non-stop ever since we found her. She keeps breaking out and finding more GrubTubs."

Days passed. Krystal had been recovering from her poor health, and she could manage to walk around on her own power, unaided from any medics or otherwise.

Fox would often find Krystal staring blankly, not knowing what to do with herself. She would stare outside into thin air, not saying anything or even thinking about anything.

"Her mind was always so busy," Fox kept telling himself. "I've never seen her so quiet before. So still, as well."

Fox walked up to Krystal, who was still spaced out and in her own mind, and placed a hand on her shoulder. Krystal looked up to Fox, still having bags under her once beaming eyes. Wearily, she slurred her way towards a conversation. "Could I go on a walk?" she croaked. "All by myself?"

Fox shook his head. "Sorry, I can't. I can't let you alone. Not until you feel better."

Krystal quickly turned sour with Fox's words. "Why can't you leave me alone? I just want to do my own thing, that's all... I just want to go out..."

Fox sighed in sadness. "I'm sorry, Krystal - "

"Who told you that you could decide what I can do in my life?" yelled Krystal, up at Fox's face. "I'm in control of my life, I can do what I want! Now shut up and let me out of here!"

One of the medics then came into the room, armed with a tranquilizer in her hand. Krystal noticed the medic and bolted towards the exit. Fox, though, grabbed Krystal's arm as she wrestled her way away from the medic.

"Let me go!" Krystal shouted, shoving at Fox. Fox kept holding on to Krystal for dear life, as she kept elbowing Fox everywhere she went. Mercilessly, the medic managed to put the tranquilizer in Krystal's neck, and the tranquilizer seeped through Krystal's body as she slowly drifted out of consciousness, fighting with Fox until she lost all her energy and collapsed into Fox's arms. Fox carefully placed Krystal back on the bed nearby, facing up towards the ceiling.

"You think putting all this crap in her is doing any good?" Fox barked at the medic. "You can't keep putting her down like this forever."

The medic just shrugged, sighing in exasperation. "I don't know what else to do. She just keeps getting upset like this, no matter what we do."

"She needs to beat this somehow," Fox said defiantly. "She has to get better, one way or another."

The two were left alone after a while, with Krystal sleeping again, as Fox looked on, with no other option available to him. Tricky went into the room, seeing Fox solemnly looking at Krystal's nearly lifeless body.

"How's she doing?" asked Tricky, naively.

"What do you think?" snapped Fox. "She's going through withdrawal. Of course she's not doing well!"

Tricky backed away nervously from Fox. "Sorry I asked," he snarkily replied back.

Krystal lifted her eyes open as the two bickered back and forth. She couldn't make out what they were saying, as her concentration fizzled in and out, but it made little difference to her. She drifted back off to sleep, trying to ignore the two arguing as much as she could.

For each GrubTub that she consumed, she felt no amount of satisfaction, no gratification, no sense of worth afterwards. Only devastation, destruction, and emptiness. "Was this all that I had worked for up to this point?" thought Krystal to herself. "To defeat all the enemies and villains in life, only to be crushed by my own demons? Something has to change."

Krystal decided to read into the minds of everyone, including Fox, as she laid still on the bed. It startled her at first, but soon she let out a relaxing breath as she started to get her own powers back again. It felt good for once. Eventually she could hear Tricky leaving the area, leaving only her and Fox inside, giving her ample opportunity to read Fox's mind - without any interruptions.

She had sensed many feelings from Fox. Anxiety, concern, guilt for what he had done to her in the past… but also hope. Hope that Krystal would get better, hope that she would be the same person she had always been beforehand, and hope that all their fears and worries would disappear and that life could simply just be better. She let those thoughts slip into her mind as she slowly drifted off to sleep…

When she woke up, it was late in the evening, with the sun setting in the background. Fox had left the room, and Krystal sprung up from the bed, searching frantically for Fox. She later saw him not far outside, and she slowly got up from the bed and cautiously stepped outside into the cooling air.

Krystal slowly approached Fox as he was staring into the distant sky. She could sense that he wasn't sure what the next step would be, either in the immediate future, or for the rest of his life. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Fox…"

"Yes, Krystal?" Fox replied, looking at her with hesitation.

Krystal paused for a moment, caught nervously without knowing what to say... "I don't know how to explain this… or even where to start… I know we've all made mistakes in the past… both of us. I don't know how to begin to explain how I ended up like this…"

"Krystal…" Fox quietly replied, "…you're safe with me. You don't need to fear anything anymore." He placed his hand on Krystal's which was still on his shoulder, and gave a comforting smile. "I know what I did wasn't the right thing to do. I can't imagine how much I hurt you…"

"Then I'll tell you," said Krystal bluntly. "When you left, I was angry. I wanted to find a way to get back at you somehow… to get revenge against you. I had some ideas, but when Wolf came by and offered me a position… I couldn't turn it down."

Fox pretended not to look shocked, but even he couldn't see Krystal working for Star Wolf. Krystal gave a glare back at Fox, and Fox purged those thoughts out of his mind, remembering that Krystal could read into his mind, something he hadn't thought about in a while.

"When I went there," Krystal continued, "we planned to find the weapon that would neutralize the acidic seas of Venom, and proclaim ourselves as heroes… when we lost that weapon to you, I thought that it was you punishing me for joining Star Wolf… and they all humiliated me. They treated me like scum, they betrayed me, and I left for Sauria… not knowing where to go or what else to do. You left me… Wolf left me… Corneria left me… I felt abandoned."

Fox was stunned. He didn't know how much Krystal meant to him, especially after what happened to her home world. After the defeat of the SharpClaw army, Krystal had nowhere left to turn and joined Star Fox simply because she didn't have a home to go to. When Fox left her off the Star Fox roster, Krystal lost her home. Her home was Star Fox.

Before Fox could say anything more, Krystal continued on.

"I got to Sauria a while back. I knew it was a calm place… the villagers knew me, they knew what we did during the SharpClaw invasion… I knew this was a safe place to be… but I still felt lonely…"Krystal pulled her hand off from Fox's shoulder, turned around, and looked down on herself.

Fox stood up and followed Krystal to where she went. She was still looking downwards and had her eyes closed shut.

"Fox… when I was on that stuff I was on... I wanted to kill myself. I wanted to die, to leave everything behind, when I felt I had nothing left to live for. I wanted to die, and pretend I did nothing for anyone. Pretend I never existed."

Fox felt his heart just about jump out of his throat. He couldn't think of Krystal being dead. Not her, the one pilot who never backed down from a challenge, who never showed any kind of hesitation, who showed more determination to win than anyone, even more than himself. Yet after all this, after what Fox did to her and what happened afterwards in her life… she wanted to end it all.

"When you came to Sauria…" Krystal continued, "when you were there when I woke up from whatever it was I was under and saw you… somehow I knew that you had forgiven me for what I did."

 _What you did?_ Fox thought. Krystal didn't do anything wrong, as far as Fox was concerned at this point. If anything, Fox was responsible for this mess. _Had she gone around blaming herself for everything?_ Fox thought.

Fox went up to Krystal and placed his hand her shoulder, standing beside her. "I'll be with you to make this right. I'll never leave you behind again. I'll help you get out of this mess, whatever it is. I'll get you the help you need to feel better again. Whatever it takes to help you feel better."

Krystal paused for a few seconds, but it felt like hours. She paused and hesitated, and then finally spoke.

"How can I know that you're not just saying this to simply get me back again? Even with my telepathy… you've been the hardest person to read from..."

"After you left…"Fox stated, "after I left, I was looking for a new purpose, a new meaning in life… one that revolved around being a hero to everyone… that weapon you mentioned did in fact neutralize the Venom sea, but afterwards… I felt empty… because I had nowhere to go. And there was nothing but death and destruction around me. I decided right there… I can't live like a warrior anymore. I can't keep fighting endlessly. I had to stop."

They looked upon each other. The two had known each other for a number of years. Both of them had gone through many difficulties, both with themselves and with the team. Each time, they had beaten the enemy, the driving force that threatened to tear them apart. Only this time, the enemy was within themselves.

They both wanted to cry. They weren't known for crying out in front of each other, but it had been an emotional few minutes for the both of them, as they poured out their feelings and left nothing to chance in order to rescue themselves. They needed to be with each other to survive.

Krystal stared intently in Fox, trying to read inside him. He usually didn't like to be read inside, given his sheltered nature, but with their minds so open right now, Krystal knew that she had to know exactly how he felt at this moment. She read hope, determination, and resolve to make things right. He didn't want to let her go again. He really meant what he said when he was going to leave Star Fox behind. He was done with fighting, killing, and war. His only concern now was for Krystal.

"Fox… if you hadn't returned when you did… I would have died."

"I know."

"I would have killed myself…"

"I know."

"And I would have made everything we did together mean nothing."

"But you didn't," Fox spoke, "because you wanted things to be right again. Just the same as I wanted things to be right again. Like it should be."

Krystal then gave a short, warm, smile.

Fox cried.

They kissed, holding each other in their arms as they shared each other's' warmth in the setting sun. Minutes felt like hours and seconds felt like days, as each of their anxieties melted away, lost in their own desires.

Fox drew away from Krystal, staring into her deep blue eyes, savouring every moment.

Krystal put her hand on Fox's face, smiling for the first time in what felt like years. "Promise me you won't leave again."

"Anything for you, Krystal," Fox replied back as his heart started healing from the inside out. "There's nothing in the galaxy that's worth as much as being with you."


End file.
